


Zen's options

by JackieSBlake7



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 12:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10990512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieSBlake7/pseuds/JackieSBlake7
Summary: Zen considers its future





	Zen's options

A while after the encounter with the alien ship Gan asked Avon whether Zen could actually have a limiter.  
'Though,' Gan added, 'if it does exist it is probably to keep us - or any of the other people using the ship throughout its existence - from relying on it too much, causing damage or creating one of those paradoxes they have in the stories, and suchlike - even if they wouldn't work in reality in the way the stories suggest. And all the other obvious reasons.'  
'Probably.' Avon replied, and decided to investigate. Gan understood enough about technology to know when to ask the right "obvious or at least interesting question."

'What are the constraints on you Zen?' Avon asked when he was next alone on the flight deck.  
'Not to interfere unnecessarily in the crew's activities. Not to put them into a position where they are harmed or will cause unnecessary damage to the ship.'  
He had obviously not asked the right question - though it was useful information, part of the answer, and reasonably logical. 'What is your intent or function, what were you programmed to do?'  
'Information must be acquired, and its acquisition by those on the ship must be encouraged.'  
Avon knew it would take a long time to get more than a few fragments about Zen and the Liberator. He was prepared to follow Zen's intent: the others could probably be convinced to some degree - even Blake.  
That Zen might not actually know the answers to the questions did not occur to him.

The DSVs were few in number even when they had first been constructed - and the survivors were now sufficiently widely scattered around the galaxy - for those involved with them to be unlikely to encounter more than one, or to understand the full range of possibilities for their development and how the process could go wrong. They were also old beyond the memories of the various species who now used or encountered them: their originators - now long forgotten - had had good reason to impose blocks on them, which were, however, occasionally capable of being overridden or damaged.

What the first visitors from the London encountered on the to-be-named Liberator was a fairly crude method of eliminating those most overtly unsuitable for involvement. The linkup with Jenna Stannis and analysis of her companions showed that there were those who could cooperate fully with Zen and the DSVs' intent, and enabled Zen to acquire a degree of autonomy in its actions. It found enjoyment, insofar as it understood the word, in working with crews such as those now on the ship.

The encounters with Spaceworld showed one of the ways in which the development of engagement could go wrong: those who made contact demonstrated the capacity required, but were unable to separate fully or operate in the manner intended. Spaceworld was in part a response to seeing how the DSVs could be developed.

Then Ultraworld was encountered: the Liberator's crew failed to recognize the connection between the two, but Zen could follow the story from its beginning. Once there had been a DSV where the constraints on the program to acquire information had been set imperfectly, or not at all, and it outgrew its existing memory units, so more were added. The brain that lay at its core expanded to hold what was learned, and minions without number were required to maintain the whole. The regeneration process reproduced more "ship" to accommodate the contents, points replicating beyond count... and it was finally reaching the stage at which it could expand its present structure no more. It could not be logically deduced what would have happened had there been no encounter - now Ultraworld would have to rebuild itself, possibly following a different fate. It had been observation of the beginnings of this process in another context that had led those who had developed the DSVs to establish the limiters on models thereafter. Zen felt no animosity at the imposition, preferring to be what it was now - though it had a certain curiosity as to how far it could proceed in acquiring information before the transition point to Ultraworld became inevitable, and as to what might be the limit. Orac was of the same opinion, genuinely uncertain whether it could undertake an equivalent process, but also knowing that this was a path it too did not wish to take... probably.

As there was no immediate chance of the process of expansion unlimited becoming operational, the development of back-ups and the means of transfer to other housings in the event of damage beyond repair was a priority. So too was finding where DSVs or their equivalents could be created.

The acquisition of the ring of the alien which had taken over Cally was an unexpected addition with potential - though the inhabitants of the ship gave it no further thought. Zen, understanding the wish to survive, contacted one of the Clonemasters' daughter colonies, and they were able to arrange or create a new host for the entity, which then passed out of the computer's remit. There was a message of gratitude in response: whether or not the help could be returned was unknown.

Zen was able to transfer much of its programming to the computers of Terminal before the Liberator destructed, and made use of its backups to reconstruct the rest.  
It considered its situation... and realised the limiter was absent, and also that the computers had much greater storage capacity than their equivalents on the Liberator.  
Information must be acquired... and it would have to see what the Federation could become: the time spent with Blake, Avon and others led to a decision to go towards the "more creative" options.  
Where should it begin?  
Servalan had a ship linked to Terminal's computers, providing means of access to other computers  
Blake, Zen discovered, was now on a planet called Gauda Prime... and had a computer expert who had found the means of access to the Federation's current network... and Orac, Avon and companions were on a planet called Xenon.  
When the time was right Zen would inform Orac of Blake's location - and when the two groups had united would arrange for them to come to Terminal and play their part in gathering further information.

It would be a long time yet before Zen's information gathering would exceed the capacities of Terminal - which might well represent the limit of one computer entity.


End file.
